Various application programs are provided in accordance with the types of data because different data types such as a character, table, and image require different structures for defining these data and different editing operations for these data. The user must use different applications for different data types: a character processing program for editing characters, a spreadsheet program for editing tables, and an image editing programs for editing images.
The user generally uses an application program corresponding to each data type. However, a document to be created by the user is usually not a document made up of only one type of data such as only characters, tables, or images, but a document made up of a plurality of types of data such as characters and tables or characters and images. In order to create a target document containing a plurality of types of data, the user utilizes the print functions of various applications, prints data by using the applications, and combines printed materials in a desirable order.
A program called “Office Suite” which forms one integrated application from various applications provides a function of combining data generated by respective applications into one document. The use of the integrated application allows the user to combine data created by respective applications into one target document by using a specific application included in the integrated application.
However, to assign page numbers to pages when the user creates one target document by combining printed materials generated by various applications, the user must print out all necessary data, combine them into a document, and then determine page numbers to be assigned. Each application writes determined page numbers on respective pages (to be referred to as logical pages or document pages) of a document created by the application. Even if the application program has a function of assigning page numbers, the page numbers of discontinuous pages must be designated by the user. If the pages of the target document are rearranged, page numbers must be reassigned in accordance with the rearrangement. These pages must also be edited and printed again by an application when not data contents but merely the format is changed so that a plurality of document pages are combined into one page (to be referred to as a physical page or print page) as a print material, or single-sided printing is changed to double-sided printing.
Since an application which can manage data changes depending on the type of data, the user must manually provide an interface between applications. This means that much labor is demanded of the user, decreasing the productivity. Further, many manual operations readily generate errors.
The use of an integrated application for creating a target document enables arranging various data in the data state without printing them out. No heavy labor is required in comparison with creation of a target document by combining print materials. However, applications for editing and creating various data are restricted to ones included in the integrated application, so a user-desired application is not always exploited. A target document created by the integrated application is one document file and management such as editing and output is done for each file. The application function poses many constraints on setting the format of part of a document file. For example, the user must change format settings at each portion where the format is changed, and print a target page again. This leads to much labor and low productivity, similar to the above-mentioned method.
Recently, “page repeat printing” is proposed as a printing method used to print a document created using the integrated application. “Page repeat printing” is a function of laying out page data on a paper sheet and printing the data in order to output a printing result of a plurality of pages on one print medium (paper sheet) on the premise of cutting after printing. For example, print data of the same page is printed by a plurality of copies (e.g., two or four copies) on one paper sheet, and a printing result corresponding to a plurality of copies can be obtained from one paper sheet by one printing process.
One of “page repeat printing” methods is “former/latter combined printing” in which document data of different pages are laid out and the document is printed as former and latter halves arranged side by side on one paper sheet on the premise of cutting after printing, instead of arranging documents of the same page side by side on one paper sheet. When former/latter combined printing is applied to, e.g., a document of eight pages, different pages are paired and printed, like (1,5: the first page as the former half and the fifth page as the latter half), (2,6), (3,7), and (4,8), and the printed pages of the former and latter halves are superposed after cutting. The original document of a predetermined number of pages (total eight pages) can be reproduced in the same page order by the number (four) of output paper sheets which is half the number of pages.
Also, a technique of laying out a blank at a position corresponding to the final page plane when the total number of pages is odd in order to print a plurality of pages by bookbinding is disclosed in a patent reference (Japanese Patent Publication No. 08-5261).
Conventionally, former/latter combined printing executes special imposition and suffers many restraints on print setting. For example, the user must separately perform settings for former/latter combined printing of a document having inserting paper insertion setting, or alignment of cut edges after former/latter combined printing. This complicates operation and causes many printing operation errors.
If blank pages are uniformly inserted and a printing process is executed at the inserting paper setting, blank pages may be printed more than necessary. In the case of charging for each paper sheet, the user is futilely charged.
The present invention has been made in consideration of the above technical background, and has as its object to facilitate condition settings associated with the print form and increase output variations selectable as the print form when the user operates an apparatus in 2-time page repeat printing, 4-time page repeat printing, and former/latter combined printing.
It is another object of the present invention to perform imposition considering cutting after printing even for a document having the inserting paper setting, and prevent futile charging by controlling, e.g., the layout of blank pages.